The Fairview Lady Apaches were just three outs away from a spot in the District Finals, holding a 4-3 lead going to the 7th inning. That’s when the Lady Eagles of North Central exploded for eight runs, only one of them earned, to come away with an 11-5 win in the Division IV softball District Semifinal at Bryan on Wednesday, May 17th. The Lady Eagles now face BBC rival Hilltop on Monday, May 22nd in the District Final at Bryan. Neither team was able to mount a real scoring threat through the first two innings as the game would remain 0-0 moving to the 3rd inning. The Lady Eagles jumped on top in the 3rd by scoring three runs off of Fairview pitcher Logan Smith, with the help of a wild pitch and a bloop single down the right field line. Down 3-0 in the bottom of the 4th, Fairview would slowly chip away at the North Central lead. Kinsley Dietrich smacked a triple driving in the first Fairview run of the game and it was 3-1 going to the 5th. Kamryn Boland took over in the pitching circle for the Lady Apaches in the 5th and she would proceed to shut the Eagles down in the top of the inning. Fairview then scored two runs in the home half of the inning to tie the score at 3-3. After a scoreless top of the 6th by North Central, Fairview then scored a run in their half of the inning and with that Fairview had erased the deficit and had a 4-3 lead. The North Central bats then came alive in the 7th as they were down to their last three outs. The Lady Eagles put eight runs on the board including a grand slam by sophomore Madyson Bonney and suddenly it was an 11-4 ball game. Fairview scored one run in their final at bat to make the final score 11-5 in favor of North Central (14-5). Fairview (16-7) hurt themselves in the field committing five errors which resulted in only one of the Lady Eagles eleven runs to be earned. North Central received plenty of contributions on offense besides the grand slam by Bonney. Hayes put together a three hit two RBI night for the Lady Eagles. Makayla Knapp and Kelsie Sutton each had a RBI for North Central as well. For Fairview, Kinsley Dietrich had two hits and one RBI, Kendyl Kime with three hits and a RBI, and Kendra Schroeder added a double and a RBI.
